The Jianghu Poetry School of the Southern Song Dynasty was a group of poets whose main body was the Jianghu wanderers at that time. The Jianghu wanderers who belong to this poetic school are a social class composed of lower-class intellectuals. The emergence of the Jianghu Poetry School is a literary phenomenon as well as a social phenomenon.
The Jianghu Poetry School probably arose in the early 13th century, that is, in the middle of the Southern Song Dynasty. At that time, Jiangxi's poetry style, which was flourishing for a while, began to decline, and Yang Wanli, Fan Chengda, Lu You and others who represented the highest achievements in poetry creation in the Southern Song Dynasty also passed away one after another. The always lively poetry world began to feel lonely. The first ones to break this loneliness were the "Four Spirits": Xu Zhao, Xu Ji, Weng Juan, and Zhao Shixiu Hanzhen Note: Xu Zhao, also known as Daohui, also known as Linghui, also known as Shanmin; Xu Ji, also known as Zhizhong, also known as Shanmin The courtesy name is Wenyuan, and the nickname is Lingyuan; Wengjuan, the courtesy name is Xugu, and the nickname is Lingshu; Zhao Shixiu, the courtesy name is Zizhi, and the nickname is Lingxiu, also known as Ganoderma lucidum, and the nickname is Tianle. The four people were all from Yongjia (now Wenzhou) in the Southern Song Dynasty. Because their names all had the word "ling" in their names, they were known as the "Yongjia Four Spirits". These four Yongjia poets, under the praise and encouragement of the great scholar Ye Shi, advocated Yao, Jia Hanjin's Note: Jia Dao and Yao He, whose poems were characterized by their narrow realm and skillful language, were known as "Yao Jia" in the world, and opposed "Jiangxi" has injected a breath of fresh air into the poetry world. The creation of "Four Spirits" was praised and imitated by a large number of Jianghu poets at the same time. In the first year of Baoqing (1225), Chen Qi, a bookstore in Qiantang, compiled some poems based on the works of Jianghu poets at that time and carved them into "Jianghu Collection", which objectively summarized the creative achievements of Jianghu poetry before Baoqing. Around him, he attracted a group of Jianghu poets, which further promoted the popularity of Jianghu poetry style. As the Jianghu poets continued to expand the scale of their activities, a leader emerged—Liu Kezhuang. Among Jianghu poets, Liu Kezhuang not only has the highest creative achievements, but also has rich and profound creative theories. He likes to guide young people and encourage young people, so he is followed by many people. At the same time, he was not content to follow the "Four Spirits" step by step. Instead, he led a group of Jianghu poets to open up creative fields, which continuously deepened the Jianghu poetry style. In this way, with the "Four Spirits" as the pioneer, Chen Qi as the vocal liaison, and Liu Kezhuang as the leader, the Jianghu Poetry School officially appeared as a group and became the main force that enveloped the poetry world in the middle and late Southern Song Dynasty.
There are 138 members of Jianghu Poetry School. Such a large number of poets were a specific social class that emerged in the Song Dynasty when the political and economic conditions further deteriorated and cultural thoughts underwent major changes. In cultural history, they are often called Jianghu wanderers or Jianghu Ye. guest. Lin Xiyi's "Postscript to Yurong Lin's Poems" in Volume 13 of "The Sequel to the Eleventh Manuscript of Zhuxi Jiazhai" says: "Poems in this world are so prosperous that they use rivers and lakes instead of places and houses, and some even use them as a means of traveling. If it is small, it will be a volume, and if it is large, it will be a collection. It is long and prefaced, and short and postscript. Although some of them have secretly written admonitions and satires, everyone is unaware of it. The ancient book "Sending Plum Blossoms" said: "Since Qingyuan and Jiading, there have been poets as visitors. There are many disciples of Liu Guogai in Longzhou, and Shiping is also one of them. The trend of following each other has become a trend, and it is no longer necessary to do anything. To promote his son's career, he wrote a book about one or two key points, which he called "Kuoban", and he added a poem to it, which won thousands or even ten thousand coins. For example, Song Qian's father in Hushan was humble and paid a visit to Jia Shidao. He received two hundred thousand coins to build a beautiful place. In Qiantang Lake Mountain, there are hundreds of people. "Zhao Wen's "Qingshan Collection·Poets Hall" said: "The scholars of modern times... are poets who benefit the public." ... When looking at his people, it is rare that his clothes and hats have not changed. Fortunately, he has not changed. He wears wild clothes with a kerchief and has the appearance of a scholar, and does not look at the dust in the east of the city among the carriages and horses. It is rare. "From these records written by writers in the late Song Dynasty or the Song and Yuan Dynasties, we can see that: first, the visitors have formed a relatively broad group; second, the main means of visiting guests is poetry; third, First, the main target of the visit is high-ranking officials and powerful people; fourth, the purpose of the visit is to beg for money. All these constitute the basic characteristics of Jianghu Yeke. In this regard, previous scholars believed that it reflected the despicable character of these literati; but from another perspective, it actually reflected the changes that had taken place in the development of Chinese cultural traditions to the Song Dynasty, especially the Southern Song Dynasty.
Official service and seclusion are the two most basic lifestyles of intellectuals in Chinese feudal society. Since the Wei and Jin Dynasties, these two methods have actually gone hand in hand, and there is no longer any contradiction. Wang Kangju's "Da Yin hides in the mausoleum, Xiao Yin hides the court market" ("Anti-Zhao Yin Shi") is one of those real or so-called It has found the best support for the literati who have a good reputation in the city and a good heart. From now on, they can work openly and openly without any psychological barriers. However, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Jianghu visitors visited powerful families, begged for private letters, and asked for a salary. They were neither willing to take the imperial examination nor to stay in the mountains. Therefore, they became neither a "big hermit" nor a "little hermit." The phenomenon of non-official and non-hidden groups has tilted this tradition. What is particularly worth mentioning is that many of them have been roaming the world and visiting noble families all their lives. The pursuit of material enjoyment is the main or even the entire content of their lives. This situation reflects the impact of the increasingly developed commodity economy on scholars. If compared with many descriptions in this novel that advocate getting rich and pursuing material enjoyment, which reflect the consciousness of citizens, it really fits the bill. Furthermore, visitors from the rivers and lakes visit the rivers and lakes with poems and submit poems in exchange for financial support from dignitaries. Confucius originally believed that "it can be prosperous, it can be observed, it can be grouped together, and it can be complained. What is nearby is for the father, and what is far away is for the father." Jun's poems have become a concrete means of making a living, which is also a big change.
It means that poetry has changed from being dependent on politics to being dependent on economics; poetry has objectively entered the market, and it is possible for poets to exist independently as a profession. In this case, the dissemination of art can be realized through the intermediary of the art market, and is governed by the value laws of the art market to achieve certain economic benefits. Therefore, the commercialization of art may become a prerequisite for artists to express their independent personality. It is in this sense that we believe that sufficient attention should be paid to the significance of this phenomenon, although the insufficiency of its commercialization and the corresponding shortcomings should also be recognized.
Although the emergence of the Jianghu Poetry School had various literary inevitabilities, the role of the bookseller Chen Qi (also known as Zongzhi, also known as Yunju) was obviously extremely important. As far as his publishing activities are concerned, he published many collections of poets from the middle and late Tang Dynasty, which not only catered to the prevailing poetry style of the late Tang Dynasty at that time, but also played a role in promoting it to a certain extent. Of course, his contribution is mainly reflected in his contact with Jianghu poets through opening a bookstore.
First of all, he published poems for contemporary poets, often serving as a selector. The preface to Huang Wenlei's "Kan Yun Xiao Ji" says: "Yun Ju saw the rope, turned the basket over and took it out. This is the end of the material. From "Zhaojun Qu" onwards, Mr. Gai Jing printed Zhengyun." Xu Di's "Four Drafts of Plum House" The postscript says: "There are about forty or fifty poems in the spring of Jiachen. Just record them and ask for Yun Ju's chanting friends." The preface to Zhang Zhilong's "Snow Forest Deletion" says: "I have a penchant for chanting since I was a young girl. After 40 years of accumulation of manuscripts, four of them were deleted and edited. Mr. Bicheng Yunju also excerpted the manuscript, but only one of the fourteen pieces was removed. Then I asked Mr. Yunju again to excerpt each piece of the manuscript. "Chen Qi selected the works of these three poets into a small collection, of course with the purpose of making them easier to sell, but it is undeniable that there are also artistic considerations. Chen Qi's aesthetics, that is, his preference for late Tang poetry, inevitably affected his choice of books to publish. Since it is common for Chen Qi to publish poems for Jianghu poets, his influence is naturally reflected in them.
Secondly, he often asked poets directly for poems, which is similar to how publishing houses now compile manuscripts. The example of Huang Wenlei has been seen above. Another example is what Wei Zhen said in one of the two poems in "Xunzhai Xiaoji: A Gift to the Bookstore Chen Jieyuan": "Xunzhai was fortunately known by few people since he was a well-fed official. It was better for him to sleep when he was well-fed. He had just been gossiped by others, and the Citonus flower dropped off to ask for poems. "Zhao Shixiu's "Qingyuanzhai Poetry Collection·Given to Chen Zongzhi" said: "Every time a famous person drinks, he often asks me to sing." This shows that Chen Qi often pays attention to the creation of contemporary poets and maintains the closest relationship with them. connect. Jianghu poets are the basic author team of Chen Zhai Bookstore, and their creations are naturally encouraged and supported by Chen Qi.
Thirdly, Chen Qi’s bookstore was an activity center for Jianghu poets at that time. You can borrow books from him, such as Zhang Yi's "Qiujiang Tobacco·Borrowing Books from Chen Zongzhi in Summer": "The desk is full of books, and many of them should be borrowed." Zhao Shixiu's "Qingyuanzhai Poetry Collection·Given to Chen Zongzhi": "What I feel most is that when the books are burned out, I can borrow them and look for them." In this way, his bookstore has the characteristics of a library. In addition, he also gave books to some poor people who could not afford to buy books and allowed them to borrow books on credit. For example, Xu Pei's "Four Drafts of Plum House·Chen Zongzhi sent a stack of books and a small poem as a thank you": "If you have new publications, you must send them to me. I will always miss you when I am in a good place." Huang Jian's "Qiuhuai Send to Chen Zongzhi": "I am ashamed of Chen Zhengshi, Credit is not required." In this way, his bookstore is not entirely a commercial operation; and a large group of Jianghu poets gathered around him, it is not entirely a utilitarian association. Titled "Sixty Southern Song Poet's Collection" compiled by Chen Qi, 18 of the 60 poets were paid to sing with him, which shows his appeal and appeal at the time.
Of course, what best reflects Chen Qi's influence is the "Jianghu Collection" he published in the first year of Baoqing (1225). This collection mainly includes the works of Jianghu poets at that time, marking the beginning of the Jianghu poetry school to dominate the poetry world and dominate the style of a generation. As soon as the book was published, it caused a great response. At that time, the famous Han Nai wrote a poem praising: "The broken carvings and sunken Xie Tao are the first, and the peeling Wei Chen and Du are not humble. Who will clean up the post-ZTE? Since the left side of the river has been mixed for a long time." "Jianghu Collection" Qiantang Journal Poems) It should be said that Chen Qi played a very important role in the emergence of Jianghu poets as a group in the poetry world. In ancient Chinese literature, there are various reasons for the emergence of schools, but it is still rare for a bookseller to be able to promote the formation of a school. Although later booksellers did not have such a close relationship with a literary school like Chen Qi, their role became more and more extensive and obvious. Especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties, various ideological trends emerged one after another, during which the activities of booksellers often played a role in catering to or promoting them. For example, during the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, the trend of reprinting old books was very popular, which was obviously related to the retro movement; the book engraving industry during the Qianjia and Qianjia periods in the Qing Dynasty seemed to cooperate with the emergence of the Qianjia school; until modern times, Mao Dun, Ye Shengtao and other organizations organized literature Research Society, editor-in-chief of "Novel Monthly" and other publications, Guo Moruo, Yu Dafu and others organized the Creation Society and editor-in-chief of "Creation" journals, which had a great influence at that time. The two organizations later formed two schools, not unrelated to their publishing activities. From the perspective of the entire academic and cultural history, looking back at Chen Qi's various activities, we can even see its unique significance.
In terms of poetry themes, the Jianghu Poetry School also has its own characteristics. There are two points worth mentioning in particular.
First, the political reality content in Jianghu poetry should be fully affirmed. Instead of saying without analysis, as some scholars did in the past, that this genre was "trivial and trivial in content and did not dare to touch on the main social issues of the time." In the "Sixty Famous Collections of the Southern Song Dynasty", which contains 5,340 poems, there are more than 180 poems that reflect concern for the country and the people, that is, with political connotations. Through specific investigation, we found that almost all major current events related to national security at that time were reflected in the works of Jianghu poets. For example, Zhao Ruyi's "Yegu Poetry Manuscript" Volume 2 "Ancient Sword Song", Huang Damou's "Luxiang Collected Manuscripts: Lao Xing's Journey", Mao Jue's "My Bamboo Manuscript: Jiawu River Journey", etc., may also write "Kaixi Northern Expedition" ", expressing expectations for the restoration of the great cause; or writing about the harm caused to the Southern Song Dynasty by the rebellion of Wu Xi, the deputy envoy of Xuanfu in Sichuan; or expressing his own opinions on the Song-Mongolian alliance to exterminate the Jin Dynasty, all of which are imbued with a profound sense of reality. Jianghu poets exposed the importance of renting poems in the Southern Song Dynasty and wrote relatively well in sympathizing with the people's sufferings. For example, Zhao Ruqi's "Two Sighs on Farming and Weaving" contrasts the misery of farmers' lives with the exploitation of the ruling class, vividly exposing the darkness of society, and was rated by Mr. Qian Zhongshu as "the best way to explain this unreasonable phenomenon (i.e. the laboring class)". "If you don't get it, you won't have to work hard" ("Selected Notes on Song Poems"). In fact, this conclusion can also be drawn in the entire ancient poetry. It can be said that this type of works reflects the political and social image of the Southern Song Dynasty. Second, we should see that Jianghu poets have unique experiences in their traveling life. As we all know, the ancients had a strong sense of rurality. They longed for peace and nostalgia for their homeland, and had an instinctive rejection of military service. However, the social environment and personal life do not allow free choice. Due to various needs, people have to leave their hometown and travel the world. As a result, nostalgia and hatred have become an eternal theme in ancient Chinese literature. But the same theme has different levels of feeling and expression in different people. Comparing Jianghu poets with Nandu poets, although the latter also wrote about nostalgia and hatred, they always also contained the connotation of national calamity. In their travel poems, it is difficult for us to find detailed descriptions of personal life. Their deep lamentation diluted their introspection of their own lifestyle, resulting in their rough outlines of nostalgia and hatred. This is not the case for Jianghu poets. Although the lifestyle of martyrdom is their choice to improve their situation, this path often leads to an unknown future. Therefore, the changes in nature and the warmth and warmth of human relationships make them more sensitive; and the hardships of traveling and the misery of traveling alone make them have even more subtle feelings. In this way, in their writings, the wandering life is often more documentary, expressed more closely and delicately. For example, they always like to write about early morning and late night in their works, because these two periods are particularly stimulating to their souls. For example, there are a lot of friendship themes in their works, which are also related to their wandering spiritual feelings. All of these reflect the uniqueness of this group.
As a whole, the artistic level of Jianghu poetry is not high. But as a product of that specific era and the spiritual activities of that specific group, it has its own special cognitive value. Regarding Jianghu poetry, predecessors often criticized it for being "small", "crude" and "vulgar". If you don’t wear colored eyes, can this be understood as a different aesthetic taste from previous generations? This involves the aesthetic taste of Jianghu poets. First of all, there is a kind of delicate beauty in Jianghu poetry, which includes four aspects: smallness, ingenuity, slenderness and delicacy. It is true that Jianghu poetry has a small atmosphere and a small system, but this is not necessarily their failure. Life is multifaceted, and literature, as a means of expressing life, should also be rich and colorful. The steep mountains and peaks are no doubt spectacular, but the small bridges and flowing water can also provide people with beautiful enjoyment. The fact that Jianghu poets are not good at large pieces only shows that their talents are smaller and their hobbies are more partial, so they cannot fully master various genres. Moreover, the reason why they have been able to lead the trend for decades is probably not unrelated to this. On the contrary, if they obliterate this characteristic of themselves and cannot be strong, then only failure awaits them. Secondly, there is a kind of frank beauty in Jianghu poetry, which is embodied in the frankness, laissez-faire and lack of restraint, especially in the expression of personal desires, which is almost unconcealed. Such is the case with poems such as Wei Gui's "Shang Longxing Zhao Shuai" and Liu Guo's "Shang Yuan Wenchang Zhi Pingjiang". This emotional form has a certain influence on the style of poetry. Jianghu poems are often completed in one go without any false modifications; or in modern poetry, flowing water pairs and complex word antithesis are often used, which are all related to this. Third, there is a kind of ordinary beauty in Jianghu poetry. This is because the low social status of Jianghu poets makes their lives closer to those of ordinary citizens. They can observe the living aspects of the citizen class and appreciate the thoughts and feelings of the citizen class. Let’s talk about the subject matter first. In the poems about rivers and lakes, it may be written about booksellers selling books, such as Chen Qi's "Historical Records" was sent to the village secret supervisor Liu and expressed his regrets about seeing him; or about village children learning calligraphy, such as Song Boren's "Mocking the Illiterate"; or writing The stories of local people receiving guests, such as Wei Zhen's "Accepting Guests"; or writing about plastic dolls asking for children, such as Xu Di's "Clay Boy", were not written by predecessors or rarely written. Now let’s talk about expression techniques. It goes without saying that Jianghu poetry is emotionally explicit, description is close and close, and confrontation is skillful. What is particularly worth mentioning is the tendency of seeking familiarity in sentence meanings in Jianghu poetry. Jianghu poems may have familiar words or familiar meanings, which affects their creativity. For example, the two sentences in Xu Ji's "Mountain Residence" "open the door to scare the swallows, and draw the water to catch the fish" are fresh and refreshing, but actually come from Du Fu's "The Water Threshold Reminds the Heart" "The fish come out in the drizzle, and the swallows slant in the breeze".
Zhu Jifang's "Listening to the Snow": "The tile ditch is rustling at the beginning, and I sit in the sun for a long time. There is no sound for a long time, and the door is several feet deep." It is not bad, but the meaning of the sentence is all from Tao Qian's "Guimao Year" in the middle of the twelfth month. From Di Jingyuan's Poetry". Chen Chen Xiangyin lacks new ideas and is certainly not worthy of praise. However, Jianghu poets are close to the public, and Jianghu poetry is also very popular among the public. Although the citizens at that time had a certain degree of cultural accomplishment, they were restricted by their status and status and could not be too knowledgeable or have a large amount of contact with the cultural heritage of previous generations. In this sense, although the creations of Jianghu poets are familiar sentences and familiar meanings in the history of literature, they can still arouse new feelings for specific readers. Therefore, we might as well regard many works of Jianghu poets as the reproduction of some excellent ancient works at a lower level. Therefore, although these poems do not have high aesthetic value, they are still accepted and even loved by many people.
The Jianghu Poetry School was the largest poetry school in the Song Dynasty. It had been active for a long time, lasting more than half a century, and was the main force in the poetry world at that time. Regarding this genre, there are many other issues, such as the misfortunes of Jianghu poetry, the independence and personality of the members of the poetry school, and their concepts of time and space, etc., which are also of great significance.